14 DAY TRIAL // Sony's Scott Rohde has talked a bit about the company's plans to support other platforms besides the current PS4, saying that both the PS3 and the PS Vita will be backed up with lots of games in the near future, both from its internal teams and from third-party developers.
The PS4 came out last November and, since then, it's been enjoying great sales figures, not to mention plenty of impressive games that have already been released or will soon make their debut for the powerful and quite popular console.
However, this doesn't mean that Sony is completely abandoning the PS3 or the PS Vita, the two other consoles it has on sale right now.
According to the company's Scott Rohde, the head of software product development for Sony Worldwide Studios, both platforms will be supported with games throughout their remaining lifecycle.
The PS3 in particular still enjoys popularity in some regions of the world and Rohde believes a situation like the old PS2 can repeat itself.
"People are still buying PS3s," Rohde told GamesIndustry. "All the different parts of the world just adopt new technology at different rates. We don't know how long the PS3 tail will last. We don't know how it will be compared to the PS2."
"The PS2 lasted very deep into the PS3 cycle. There was a broad price difference between PS3 launch and PS2 end of life. We don't know where all this is going to go, but we will continue to support the PS3 through first and third parties as long as there is a good business there for us."
What's more, when Rohde and his team are talking with developers about offering downloadable experiences on the PS4, they also bring into question the possibility of a PS Vita edition, thereby supporting the portable platform.
"I think Vita is a key component of that whole PlayStation ecosystem. There's a huge hunger for all the indie games you mentioned. We have tried very hard when we put out a game like Helldivers, Hohokum or something like that, we also want to bring it to Vita. In the past, in the PSP era, we would just bring it to PS3, but now we make a concerted effort to get many of those games onto Vita as well."
It's great to hear this new strategy for Sony, especially since lots of PS3 or PS Vita owners are holding onto their platforms because of the free titles received via the PlayStation Plus promotion.